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She said: “A lot of council budgets across the country are sapped by acts of vandalism every year.” She said between April 2010 and March 2011, the council spent nearly £10,000 of taxpayers’ cash fixing acts of vandalism.

Witney Swifts Cricket Club plays on the field from April and Spartan Rangers Football Club uses another part of the ground during its season.

John Hickman, the council’s works and contracts supervisor, said the damage is bad as the ground was heavily saturated after the recent rain.

He said: “It is vital this area is maintained in a safe condition for safety reasons. If you imagine it full of ruts and furrows it could potentially be extremely hazardous to anyone on the receiving end of a bad bounce or a trip during a cricket match.”

He added: “It’s going to be a lot of work and considerable expense to put it right.

“I think we are looking at a month to six weeks to get some improvement, supposing that the grass seed takes which isn’t, of course, definite at this time of year and with the recent weather.”

Dave Woodward, chairman of Witney Swifts Cricket Club, said games would either be forfeited or rearranged if the ground did not recover in time.

He said: “It’s obviously extremely annoying as we are due to start fixtures at the end of April. We hope the council will be able to get it sufficiently repaired in time.”

PC Duncan Johnson, of the Witney neighbourhood team, said: “It is a valuable amenity for the public and it’s a shame some small-minded people have caused extensive damage to the detriment of the town.”